Matt Ellis takes on the National Hill Climb Championships
Opportunities to race this year have, of course, been severely limited by Covid. Recently though, time trials have started up again in earnest and Saint Piran has had some good results already through Ross Holland, Steve Lampier and Matt Ellis.
For the next couple of months, Matt is targeting a particular type of TT, the hill climb. And he has his sights set on the big one – the UK National Hill Climb Championships on 25th October, at Streately near Reading.
What makes this even more interesting is that Matt is a native of Lincolnshire, one of the flattest parts of the UK. To put that in perspective, in mid-August he spent a week training in Norfolk, itself not boasting much in the way of Alpine topography, but was nevertheless very grateful for “a change from the horrible, flat, monotonous fenland roads of south Lincolnshire”.
“The climbs are enough to get you out of the saddle, but they only really last for 15 seconds to a minute. But it’s enough to get your power up to zone 3 without really having to think about it. Compared to where I live, it’s lumpy. I live 1m above sea level and in a 40-mile ride might only do 20m of elevation. it’s still nothing like Cornwall or Yorkshire of course!”
So why has he decided to step to tackle the undeniably horrible, lung-busting challenge of hill climbing?
“I haven’t done pure hills climb before, but this year is the perfect opportunity ,especially now with my local Cyclocross series being cancelled. The only thing I've done that's remotely similar is a mass start timed event up Alpe d'Huez (In real life not on Zwift) a few years ago, but that would be at least three times longer than the longest UK hill climb.”
As for the National Championships, he says:
“What made me think about the Champs is that it’s one of the most likely events to go ahead. It's something I can train for specifically, and the fact is, I'm a big fan of punchy climbs rather than trying to go fast down a dual carriageway for 10 miles!”
Matt says that his training for the Nationals has so far not been too dissimilar to a normal season.
“I decided to aim for the Champs in June, so I started off the first few weeks just building up some endurance and strength. I spent a good amount of time in zone 2 and 3, and stopped doing any racing on Zwift. I'm in the middle of a 4-week block including some V02 max work so a mixture of intervals, all around 3-4 minutes. Closer to the start of the season I'll be adding in some more specific work, and doing some race specific efforts on some of the climbs around Rutland. I keep having fun though, there is nothing better than the race at the end of the Sunday club ride!”
It's fair to say that Matt’s first competitive hill climb, last weekend’s Spalding Club event, went well. Out of a field of 20, Matt won and also broke the course record by over a second, with a time of 53.03 seconds. Next up is the open hill climb this weekend at Leadenham. The 750m long course will be a bigger challenge, with 300m at 11-13% gradient.
So what awaits Matt at the National Championships?
This year’s course is 0.8km, with an average gradient of 13% and a maximum of 26%. The men’s course record is 2 minutes 16 seconds, set back in 2012, and recent top Strava times have been in the 2:20 to 2:30 range.
Matt says that:
“The climb is pretty short this year. It’s also rather steep in the middle, reaching a 25% maximum gradient which should sting! I'll be going down to the course at some point for a recce to see how brutal it really is.”
So he’s now just keeping his fingers crossed that the event will be on.
“In my mind the event is going ahead and I shall work hard accordingly. If it’s cancelled, I'll find a local climb, pretend it is the champs and see how fast I can go up. I'll try and pick one of Steve Lampier's KOMs from when he lived around here!”
“Deep down I’m fairly confident. I’m feeling fit and I’m setting power PB’s over short distances left right and centre, but I don’t really know what to expect. It’s not going to be quite the same as the images you see from previous years with crowds lining the roads, but I’ve got to get everything out, do my best and see what the result is. That’s really all I can do.”